Well, 0.75L/100km? We will see.

dudette just put a diesel generator in the boot and run an electric motor

Wasn't BS at all, this is the evolution of the same concept. It was just shelved for a while due to lack of interest from the media etc.

Shame NZ's RUC system discourages economical diesels yet the government encourages the likes of Gull to stock useless biofuell that leaves many vehicles unable to use any fuel from a Gull station.

Hmmm that thing would get me to work and back for $3 a week, however i'd have to pay another $6 a week in road tax.

It mostly comes down to aerodynamics for the over 100km/h stuff, you would be surprised how little power you need when aerodynamics are sorted properly, cyclists have pedaled to over 80 MPH with aerodynamic bicycles. Its interesting that aerodynamics are always severely compromised on production vehicles. You only have to look at the crazy economy economodders and the likes of Colani's aerodynamic trucks get to see that.

VW are also masters at reducing weight, parasitic drag and making their engines and transmissions ultra efficient as well.

The under 12 second 0-100km/h time and 160km/h top speed are quite comparable to the Japanese commuter cars which we see an abundance of in NZ.

Drag is very high on an aircraft at that sort of speed, induced drag is very high at low speed and low at high speed because the aircraft out-runs eddies and vortices which are formed. To fly at stall speed an aircraft requires pretty much all the power it has got.

edit, I thought I should add that parasite drag increases with airspeed, so the total drag is a sum of both parasite drag and induced drag. As an example, an aircraft with a 50kt stall speed and 135kt maximum cruise speed will experience minimum drag at about 80kt

our standard airfoil will make lift at AoA right down to -4°. This is because of Bernoulli's Theorm (speed increase -> pressure drop). Assuming no flex in the paper, a paper plane flies using impact lift, this requires a positive angle of attack to work.

It is incorrect to say that only AoA produces the lift, because Bernoulli's Theorm still applies and an aircraft can fly at a 0° AoA if it has sufficient airspeed.

Induced Drag is significant and this is most apparent in the slow flight configuration. A good example was last weekend I was doing life raft dropping in the competitions and had the aircraft right down to 65kt coming up to the drop. It required 2100rpm to maintain speed and height, but 2100rpm is also sufficient to do about 100 knots when you are on the other side of the drag curve.

lada dude I can't read your numbers without getting horribly confused - can you please use a decimal where you mean decimal! Or if it's not a decimal, what the hell is it!

although it may seem like you need two sides of the venturi to generate lower pressure that is not actually true, the 'venturi' is created between the freestream air and the wing. It doesnt require an immovable object because the air more remotely surrounding the airfoil acts as the 'throat' of the venturi, thus creating the restriction.

Angle of attack for aerodynamic theory is always measured off the chord line, that is from the leading edge to the trailing edge. A symmetrical airfoil cannot generate lift at 0°AoA but a conventional general purpose can, this is because of the low pressure zones existing equally on both sides of a symmetrical airfoil when at 0°AoA . Symmetrical airfoils are normally things like rudders, elevatorsand other stabilizing surfaces. I think that some of the stunt planes have symmetrical airfoils to make flying upside down easier as you dont have to have such a large negative angle of attack.

On the tube liners, the alpha indicator is placed on the fuselage so it may not always be correct, Im not sure if they correct for the changing chord when flaps are lowered

Yes, what is an apostrophe doing in a number!

Right, so with decimals, what's the question again! Or do I have to go read something.dammit.

the mind boggles. if a cyclist can do 80kmh how much fuel would he consume per 100k of cycling thats a lot of nut bars and energy drinks if it were me

OK, I read it.

Just some observations (I know squat about aero, hell I drive a mini):

It says top speed 160kph, and 0-100 11.9 secs, and it managed .75 l/100km over 15000km.

Nowhere did they say that the 15000km was at 160kph, or even at 50kph, it could have been at 20kph. Nowhere did they say they would achieve good economy while accelerating. It's just written in a way that makes you put the different facts together (incorrectly).

Also, it mentions electric, does that mean solar! If so, that's.clever.mark-
eting.

Are you trying to say that all the theory that I have done for my commercial pilots licence, and instructor rating is wrong! When I do my ATPL theory it is all the same theory so you are telling me that all the pilots of heavy aircraft out there in the world are wrong with their aerodynamic knowledge!

I would say it has regenerative braking which charges up the batteries and has an electric motor to assist the diesel engine.

Ya as per MINI and a couple others now.

I think that for a concept car it looks bloody good! (especially the front end)

yea i mentioned energy drinks, read more carefully next time. thats why i wonder if cycling would a very fuel efficient way of getting around, maybe the greens are wrong about that to

most wings, regardless of their camber or thickness:chord ratio will stall at 16°AoA. The use of slats can increase the stalling AoA because the air flowing through the slot which is created will re-energise the boundary layer making the air 'stick' to the wing for a bit longer.

Yes the shape of the wing will allow it to fly given sufficient airspeed and there is no two ways about it. It is not efficient to rely solely on that for lift because the airspeed requires comes accompanied by lots of drag. An airfoil performs at max lift:drag ratio at approximately 4°AoA.

High lift wings have one key design feature: they bend air more than other wings. that is what it really comes down to. Lift is created with the bending of air. Whether that bending be caused by the shape of the wing or the AoA doesnt really matter. High lift wings have a large thickness at 1/3 chord because it means the air on top has to travel even further, increasing the lift created which can be explained by Bernoulli's theorm.

Flow seperation and the deterioation of the boundary layer is caused because the lowest pressure point occurs at the point of maximum deflection, in normal flight it is around 1/4-1/3 the way back from the leading edge but this point moves forwards as you approach the stall. Anyway, behind this point the pressure progressively increases and we know where high pressure wants to go: yes it wants to go forwards. So we find that air further back has the desire to go forwards instead of rearwards and because the air close to the wing surface, within 20mm in the turbulent boundary layer, is already travelling very slowly it actually reverses flow. This point where reversal of flow begins is the point where the air will break off the wing.

A note on slats and slots, A slot is created when the slat moves forwards off the leading edge. The slot is the gap where air can move through. It is easy to see on the big jets because they are lowered with the first notch of flaps and it is the leading edge of the wing moving forwards and drooping.

Flying at slow airspeeds involves reducing the stall speed. This can be done through many number of methods but one is having a light plane. with less weight then the wing will be at a lower AoA for the airspeed, and hence will reach the stalling angle at a much slower airspeed. The other method is to increase the lift produced at a certain air speed, ie increase the bending of the air. This is done using flaps in most cases but more drastic methods such as slots and slats and vortex generators are also used.

ive never seen them on gliders, only on STOL aircraft. I dont know much about their operation but it is possible that although they are great for lift they could be really bad for drag. Gliders dont particually need low speed performance, just a really good L:D ratio. Their high aspect ratio wing helps with this because it greatly reduces induced drag